The warriors approached the wolves and began cutting into their flesh. They removed some skin and began cutting off pieces of meat. However, it would seem they were only getting the most meaty parts. Taking the entire meat of those oversized dogs would be too heavy and too much of a hassle to carry for their trip. So they mainly got the meat from the thighs and belly.

I walked over to them with a slightly wincing face. “I learned the city sells meat from monsters. I assume it was the same meat from these wolves?”

The warrior nodded. “Yeah, these wolves are pretty common monsters.”

“Back where I’m from, I never heard of people eating monster meat.”

“Really? Huh. You must have a lot of options, then?”

“... You could say that.” Well, compared to this place, we certainly have a great load of options. I could eat as many sweets as I could to the point I could get diabetes in a single night! But that’s bad, so I ain’t doing that.

“Sounds nice. Still, monster meat is delicious, some of them at least. And meat is meat, we can’t be picky. But you gotta be careful which monster you eat. You might eat one that has acidic blood or poisonous flesh. Plenty of people died because of those.”

Ugh, I would rather not eat any monster meat if I had any choice. But I quite understood why they would eat monster meat. I mean, from looking around, there was not any normal animal to be seen. So, their only choice to eat good meat was from monsters. How did this land even get bad to this degree? I should ask Taneva about this at some point.

“I understand.”

They put the meat into some cloth and threw them into the cart. The warrior looked back at me.

“By the way, we’re now in a less safe area. You might encounter more monsters, but you guys should be able to beat them. Aside from that, you can expect to encounter bandits from here on out.”

Velar and I looked at each other. If that was the case, then it would be better to walk from here. As what was discussed earlier, moving with an armed group would only repel the bandits. So, this was a good chance to split up with these guys.

“In that case, we’ll split off from here.”

“If that’s what you want. Should I wish you good luck that you’ll face bandits or not?”

I chuckled. “The former please.”

“Heh. What a weird thing to wish for.”

The warriors jumped up to the carriage. I approached the driver with a friendly and grateful smile.

“Thank you for bringing us this far.”

“Yeah, thanks for helping out, too. Stay safe out here.”

“You too.”

With that, with a whip to the drakolisk, they began moving.

“Don’t die out here, you two!”

“It’ll be embarrassing if you did.”

“Take care.”

They casually raised their hands as goodbyes, and I waved at them as they went. I turned to Velar with a smile.

“Let’s start walking.”

And we began walking, watching as the carriage in front of us grew farther and farther. Of course, they were faster than us, and we were walking a bit slowly.

“What’s your plan from here?” Velar asked.

“For now, we walk, while hoping to catch the bandits’ attention.”

“Wait for them to find us? What if they don’t come?”

“We’ll get their attention somehow.” Like sending a flare to the sky. To do something chaotic, just anything to catch everyone’s attention. It may call in monsters, but we’d cross that bridge when it comes. But let’s just hope they pop up without doing those. Besides, I had a secret ultimate weapon. And that weapon was something everyone was all so familiar with.

And thus, some time passed, we continued on walking the road in peace. Surprisingly, we hadn’t encountered any monsters yet. Looks like what that staff girl said that monster activity had lessened here was right.

Anyway, the guys we rode along with had completely disappeared from view, and there was no one else around. And by rough estimation, we should be now around the location of where there were recorded bandit activities.

I suddenly lowered my hood, revealing in the open my utter and blinding beauty. My appearance basically radiated like a holy light in this blight and corrupted misbegotten soil. I was literally a godly presence that blessed the unworthy land. My white and beautiful hair stood out like a watch tower amidst the darkest oceans. My absolute beauty shone and blossomed like a single white flower in a lonely desert. My purity illuminated the space like the brightest sky on a starry night. I was like a beacon! Indeed, this was my ultimate weapon!

Velar eyes widened at my action.

“Princess, are you…?” He realized what I was doing. “Are you sure about this? To use yourself as bait.”

“Of course. With this, even if a single eye would see us, more will follow.”

“... To be honest, I am not in favor of this. I don’t like letting some strangers see your entire appearance. It is too dangerous.”

Aaaaw, you hear that? So sweet and caring.

“I understand what you’re saying. But being in a dangerous spot is the point to achieve what we want.”

He let out a resigning sigh. “I understand.”

Sorry, I was giving trouble to my guard. What a stubborn princess I was. Anyway, we continued walking as I fully exposed my beauty. It would be really disappointing if no bandit ever comes for us, my beauty would really disappoint me.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

But some time after, nothing new happened yet, and we were now somewhere at the center of where the staff pointed out the bandit activities were. And this place should be a good spot to start robbing people. Far enough from the city, and deep enough into the main road, and no people around yet.

I let out a sigh and stopped, walking towards a boulder on the ground.

“Princess?”

“We should rest and wait.”

I was feeling just a bit tired anyway. And I didn’t want to get too far off from where bandits usually carry out their activities. Besides, if I wait here long enough, some shady eyes could see me, and that was the goal.

“Can you hand me the grapes?” I said to Velar.

He pulled out a small pouch of grapes. Yeah, they were the same nasty grapes we got previously. My crew bought quite a good amount, and guess what, they couldn’t eat them all. I understood why, they were nasty after all. And why choose them when we had a lot of supplies on the ship, leagues more delicious at that.

But at the moment, I just wanted some snacks. Couldn’t be choosy. I pulled out a grape from the pouch in my hand and threw one into my mouth. My face contorted the moment I bit into it.

Ugh… This place sucks.

Really needed fixing… Fucking irritating how hard everything was.

Moments passed, and we remained waiting as I slowly ate my grapes. There was a cart pulled by a drakolisk that passed through the road. The couple of guys on it looked at me with wide eyes, faces so full of shock and captivation that I thought their souls would get plucked out of their bodies. They almost looked like they wanted to approach me, but it would seem Velar intimated them. And so, they just continued on.

Bye bye.

Intimidated, huh? Yeah, even bandits might get wary of seeing Velar. But I was an invaluable reward, and many would take the risk of getting their hands on me if they had a chance. By the way, those two guys on the carriage were definitely going to die out there, no guards and all. It would seem not everyone could afford guards. Anyway, it was just a feeling, there might be a miracle. Or I was just being unnecessarily pessimistic about some strangers.

Moments passed, and the place was still quiet. We’d been here a while. Velar was just quietly looking around with sharp eyes. As for me, I frequently paused eating the grapes. It was just too much for me to eat right after the other. The flavor was certainly not helping. Suddenly, I sensed something in the woods. Eyes watching us.

I smiled and handed the fruit pouch to Velar. “They may come very soon. Be prepared.”

He seemed surprised as he received the pouch. “Really? I didn’t even sense them.”

“Just an instinct of mine.”

And thus we waited, I looked around as I did. Then, a long moment after, several figures began emerging from the woods and the shades. They were all shabby looking, but dangerous. They had swords in hands, wearing shabby armors, grinning as they approached us.

“Look what we got here?” one said with a brief, sinister chuckle.

Velar stepped forward and drew his greatsword, glaring at the approaching enemy.

“Got a pretty doll.”

“Woah, that’s the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen.”

I can imagine.

I glanced to the side and spotted another bandit coming. He waved his hand at me with a creepy smile.

“Hey there, girly. Would you like some fun?”

“We’ll give you the best day of your life.”

“Let me go first, aight?”

“Ain’t no fucking way, I’m going first.”

“No, it’s me!”

“Bastard!”

They suddenly began quarreling. To be honest, I was quite surprised how volatile they were. I already surmised they were quite simple-minded.

Ooooh, I have an idea.

I resisted quite a sinister grin myself.

Velar stepped in front of me. “You people are revolting.”

“Whaaat? Shut up, sword guy!”

“Hand over that girl, and we’ll let you two live.”

Velar gripped his sword tight with both hands. But before anything else, I placed a hand on his arm to lower his weapon and stop him. With an innocent expression directed at the bandits, I stepped forward.

“E-Excuse me, may I ask who you are?” I said with the most precious voice you could ever hear.

“Oh, just some guys that want to have some fun, is all,” one bandit said with a cackle.

“Is that so? What kind of fun would that be?” I tilted my head preciously, as if I was entirely clueless.

“Hehehehe, what do you think?”

I clasped my hands together. “Are you bandits, perchance? Are you going to rob me?”

“Weeell, right now, robbing’s not exactly the priority.” One sneered and laughed.

I turned towards one that seemed to be pretty eager and worked up. “Really? Having fun is more important, I take it?”

“Sure!” he replied.

I flashed them a smile for a moment, but I mainly focused on that one person. “I understand. But there are a lot of you. Is it something that can be done with this many?” My sparkling, beautiful, attractive gaze directed at him, and him alone.

“S-Sure, hehehe. Taking turns works.”

I smiled seductively, but with a heavy trace of fragility. “Ooooh, then, who’ll be the first one?”

“Me, of course!”

“You?” I sweetly said to him before turning to the others, placing a hand on my cheek. “Is it right he should be first? There’s a saying: the first always gets the best of taste.” I made that up, by the way.

“I said I’ll be the first!” shouted one.

“Shut up! I already said it’s me!” the first one said.

“Can’t you see how gorgeous that girl is?! There’s no way I’m letting you eat her up first!”

“Yeah? What’cha gonna do, huh?!”

“You bastard!” He pulled on his collar.

“Get your hands off me!” The man suddenly punched the man in the face.

The man tumbled to the ground, but then turned towards his ally with a resentful and angry expression. “I’ll kill you!”

He swung his sword at him.

“Well, if you two are gonna fight, I’m going ahead,” one promptly started approaching me.

“Where do you think you’re going?” another placed a hand on his shoulder. “We’re making a proper decision on this.”

“Yeah? And who do you think is the proper pick? You? Cheeky bastard.”

“Heh, well it can be me.”

The bandit scoffed. “Let me go.”

“You’re second.”

“You shit!” He punched him in the face.

And they began fighting. One tried to evade, but the attacker almost hit an uninvolved man with his weapon. That pissed the latter off, of course.

“You’re trying to kill me?!”

One tried sneaking in and approached me without saying anything. But one bandit noticed him.

“Don’t you fucking dare!”

“I’m your senior here!”

“I don’t fucking care. I’m getting it fresh!”

Those two also started fighting.

One particular bandit looked around in shock, watching as his allies began fighting each other. “H-Hey, what the hell are you doing?! Dammit! Why are you even fighting? I’ve been leading you bunch. I should hit it first!”

I tilted my head with a beautiful, small pout. “Aren’t you just taking advantage of your authority just to get what you want? Quite selfish of you.”

“What?!”

“That’s right! Why the hell should we let you go first?!”

“What did you say, you shit?! I’m your fucking leader!”

“Fuck you! I’ve only been following you for a couple of days, anyway! And you’re a shit leader!”

“You!”

The two glared at each other.

I formed the purest smile. “Oh my, you’re fighting. That is fine. Prove to each other and to yourselves who are the most worthy. Do whatever you must to take the first bite of the most delicious fruit! And you shall have a glimpse of true heaven.”

And disorder ensued. The bandits started fighting against each other. Magic flew all over the place, dust and debris scattered in the air. Men getting injured, beating each other with their mightiest of strikes. One against one, two against two. All just to prove who was better, all to prove who should be worthy to the forefront. Junior, or senior, it didn’t matter in achieving the highest of prizes. Me.

Oh, my goodness. I didn’t expect it would work this well. Bunch of savages, all right. The simplest minds were the easiest to influence.

I couldn’t believe how effective it was. However, it was exciting to witness this. My beauty caused chaos among my enemies. I never thought it would be so easy. It was just a mere simple, throwaway idea. Where if it failed, I would just shrug it off. Never did I expect for it to work to this degree. They were fucking killing each other. How fearsome. How great! How exhilarating what I could do with just my presence!

One stabbed the other in the chest. One beat another to the ground, pounding his fist into one’s face. To think I could achieve such a thing without raising a blade. With my beauty alone, with my existence alone, I could achieve such a magnificent result!

This chaos. It made my heart race.

“Princess…” Even Velar was awestruck by what he was seeing.

I resisted the urge to laugh in my excitement.

How fun!

How fun indeed!